I recently had a DMSA challenge performed (by Doctor's Data). It showed mercury 5 times above max acceptable limit. Rated "Very elevated".

I also have 5 large amalgam fillings for 25y now. Dentist says they are in good condition. No shrinkage. No unusual darkening of remaining tooth part.

So I'm interested in finding out how many of the people who have large amalgam fillings do NOT have significant mercury poisining.

That might shed some light on to which degree amalgam fillings leak mercury into our bodies.

POLL!

Please specify the following:

1) # of fillings and location (molar/front)?
2) Approximate relative size of each filling?
3) How long have you had the fillings?
4) What is your level of mercury poisining?

Re (2) above, use the following scale.
- Large: filling occupies >25% of the volume of the tooth.
- Medium: 10-25%.
- Small: <10%.

I'll go first:

1) # of fillings and location (molar/front): 5, all molars
2) Approximate relative size of each filling? 5 large.
3) How long have you had the fillings? 25y
4) What is your level of mercury poisining? 5 times or very elevated.

They were at least 25 yrs. old although I had my first mercury filling at the age of 10. This was later replaced with a gold crown. Over the years the fillings have been replaced if they broke. I am now 55 so I have had mercury in my mouth for over 40 years.

I didn't know how to chelate so I did nothing except some of those Japanese foot pads for a month (Body Pure).

Last Feb. Dr. C diagnosed me with Lyme and had me do the 24 hr. urine heavy metals test with Great Smokey Labs. It came back negative to all metals and mercury showed the least (just a trace).

He did not do a challenge so as I understand it now this makes the test invalid. I really don't know. I haven't been back to him since I got the results of the test to discuss this with him.

Some things I read on the internet say you should only test with a challenge and some say not - just something else to be confused about.

I would love to have access to ART but there is no one near me that practices this. From what Gigi says this is a very accurate way to test for heavy metals.

I have never eaten much fish - don't like any seafood and did not have the full course of immunizations as a child - so I would like to believe this test is correct but probably not.

Sorry if this isn't what you are wanting.

I had all 9 taken out and replaced
with white composite material. The
Dentist said they were all high mercury
content fillings.

I noticed no diffrence in health
after getting them all replaced.
My teeth do look better now since
they are mostly white now (some
merc staining remains in each molar)
but I saw no health benifit.

I'm glad I did it because 3 of the
9 were in need of replacement anyway
due to softness and cracking. But it
was expensive so don't expect any
health miracles. ALSO the white
composite fillings ache for the first
4-5 months so be ready for teeth that
hurt for awhile. My teeth stopped
hurting by the way after 4-5 months..

I would say put your money into nuking
Lyme with abx first.

Perhaps the damage had already been done
since the fillings were in there 25 or
so years. Or maybe the dangers of
Amalgam fillings are just overhyped??

All I can say is I had high hopes that
removing them would improve my health
and I saw ZERO difference.

Removal of the fillings is part one.
Detoxing the whole body, brain and all, is the most important part a f t e r the removal of the fillings, no matter how old. Part or most of the mercury is no longer in the teeth, but has excaped in vapor form and again settled elsewhere in another metallic form in other parts of the body.

As long as the mercury is in the various body compartments, it is not possible to see improvement, if any. Heavy metal detox can take many months or years. The body has its own time schedule. But when accomplished feels like heaven on earth.

Take care.

Thanks for your replies.

I was hoping more people would chime in as mercury seems to be a hot topic at the moment.

...and there must be a lot of people on this list who have been tested for metals AND who also have amalgam fillings.

Anyone?

I had a hair test only for heavy metals, and my mercury shown by this test wasnt too bad. copper was 5x over limit, lead was quite high, and silver and arsenic where in the yellow, though.

I am in the middle of having my mercury filings removed. Why ? Well, first of all, I have something like 11 of them, and more than 1/2 are in need of replacement anyway. And, I also show signs of sensitivity and gum irritation by the large ones touching my gum lines.

I am very sensitive to everything, I have an overload of other metals already. Last time I had a filing replaced (by another mercury filing !!) a couple of years ago, I had a bad reaction. Spaciness, something that felt like post exertion fatigue, etc...

So, last month, I had a very large, cracked and failing (my in worst shape tooth) filling removed and also the old metal fused crown next to it for good measure. They have both been replaced by all porceline crowns.

It was done by our areas expert in such things, a biocompatible dentist, and they take all precautions they can, use a dental dam, seperate air for me during removal, chunk it out, etc... I took clorella before, and lots after. I only had a minimum of spaciness afterwards.

My gums are in better shape, the new crowns are great, there was alot of decay or whatever work under both he took care of.

I realy feel that this is and will continue to be a positive health benefit for me. This first part is good already, we will get another section, 3 more teeth, the next worst area, in a couple of weeks and the rest next year.

I will be upping my metal detox efforts after this section is done. i have already been doing lots of clorella, and will continue. I can tell it helps. I have just started ALA and a glutithione precursor, NAC. After I have the other partial crowns on I will start cilantro extract to pull more metals out.

People dont get over lyme because of too many other loads on their immune system. What these loads are can vary from person to person, although there are probably some that are more usual or typical. There is not just one right answer or path--no one size fits all solution.

Some people may not be bothered by their mercury fillings, or may not do anything to get the metals out of their bodies once the filings are removed.

I try to peel back as many immune systems loads off as I can. I look at what is reported as usual culprits. Then, I look at my situation and try to identify 1) the ceapest easiest culprits to eliminate or change and 2) the ones that seem most likely to be having a large impact on me. I go after things in these two catagories first, not just what worked or might work for someone else. I suggest that you and everyone else do this too.

good luck

A voice with credentials! Thank you for injecting some sanity into this issue.

LOGIC: We as a nation have zillions of amalgam fillings yet we are living longer, and healthier...with exceptions of course.

My mother is 78 and worked with Amalgam for over 25 years in a dental office...guess what? No Mercury problems. Yes, expecting Mothers and infants are at risk from environmental Mercury...we are adults and our bodies react differently.

LISTEN TO THE DOCTOR...he is the ONLY one who can speak on this issue with any background in the field.

Remove emotional reactions from the argument...do NOT put faith in dubious studies or "The SKY is Falling" sttements.

The internet contains a lot of junk...

"Reasearch Institutes" with someone's home address.

Hospital Affiliations...when one's wife works as a nurse at a hospital, etc.

It is our job to get at the truth...and this requires discussion with REAL EXPERTS...not people trying to push some dubious agenda...

YES FOLKS...sorry to say, but even the ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT PRACTICIONERS can be bogus, have big egos, and WANT OUR MONEY!!!

MY DENTIST would never remove my Amalgams and replace them with COMPSITE...which in itself, can be TOXIC, as well as the fact that composites are NOT as strong as AMALGAM fillings, and they will need more frequent replacement.

You all should be glad DocDave is giving his take on this...he has nothing to gain...or lose by stating the facts...he is not selling a product or snake oil treatments.

THANK YOU Doctor!!!!!!

Your input is great. But things are never black and white.

I believe that one can not say that amalgam fillings are neither safe nor unsafe.

I believe that there is some truth in mercury poisining from amalgam fillings...in some cases.

But probably, in most cases, there is no issue. Just my gutt feeling here.

If people really are poisined by the amalgam fillings, the fillings would shrink and loose their strength and everybody would develop decay and require root canal after a few years.

This is not happening.

I have a gutt feeling that most people, who have a skilled dentist put the amalgam fillings in, do not develop problem down the road.

But there are of course also bad dentists and/or bad amalgam mixtures and I can imagine that such fillings may indeed become problematic over time and cause mercury poisining.

Even if an amalgam filling is put in properly, there's still one more thing that can cause poisining. And that's the post-grinding of the surface of the filling to accomodate for a comfortable bite.

Isn't it possible that this post-procedure can cause poisining if not done properly?

I had at least 12 to 14...they are gone now...had no REAL reaction...minor neuro stuff from the firat 3 quadrants...then;

I had my lower left quadrant done last...WOW!!!!!!!!!! :roll eyes:

I was neauro psych for a whole week!!!

Wast tested before this by DMPS Challenege..yes the numbers ARE inaccurately high as they are pulling it out for us to see.

But...metals attach to things and aren't always out there 'floating' around...so I beleive they need to be flushed.

I wasn't necessarily high in Mercury or Lead (moderate to low in both)...however, Arsenic was off the charts...normal person has a reading of 8 I had 351.

Why? I handled alot of stuff in my life....I also was exposed to burning treated wood...three times in an enclosed area...got so high I was stammering and dizzy.

Well...I WAS having terrible MCS/Environmental Illness reactions...they tapered off when I was on heavy abx or when I was herxing...strange that this symptom went away when I herxed. So, I thought it must be something else...candida, or metals.....

I did receive DMPS drip 4 times a year ago...I quit and went downhill.

Just 6 weeks ago I started DMSA/Raw Garlic/Charcoal-Psyllium chelation on my own, with the guidance of a local medical practitioner.

I had numerous flare ups of symptoms...I urinated dark urine, my teeth hurt...all kinds of stuff...now, here comes the good part; my OVER REACTION to the environment is now almost gone.

Yes, I react...but NOTHING like I used too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to stop because my WBC count dropped to 2.6...as can happen..it is now back up to 4.8. I will start this process again soon.

I am NOT a medical professional...just another Lymie looking for the right path.

Trout

------------------
Now is the time in your life to find the "tiger" within.
Let the claws be bared,
and Lyme BEWARE!!!
Iowa Lyme Disease Assoc. www.ildf.info

And, mercury filings cause some people more problems than others.

There is a blood test you can do to test for sensitivity/allergies to dental materials. If you feel that you have sensitiviteis to chemicals etc, I would recomend having it done. That way you dont need to guess which material to use in your mouth. My dentist ordered this test, it is a few hundred dollars. But, now I know what is ok to use. They send you a thick report, not just telling you what elements trigger a reaction for you, but list all dental products by type and brand name, with an indication next to each, so your dentist can easily see which products should be ok for you.

There are different ceramics, composites, gold, etc... each brand uses different blends of materials. Yes, some composites would cause a reaction for some people. Some ceramic blends also. Mercury is poisoness to everyone though.

Whether to remove existing mercury filings is a complex and personal decision. It is expensive, you need to be carefull of poisoning yourself worse during removal, etc...

But, please do not get any new ones !!! They are known to be toxic, many other countries are no longer using them. This is not quackery or fringe, when other intelligent countries and their dentists are saying that the risks outweigh the benefits, especially given all the less toxic alternatives there are.

While the level of metal poisoning most of us have is not outright killing us, it is affecting the quality of our lives, it is one of the things that is keeping many of us from getting well.

Those of us reading/posting here have too many loads on our imune systems, so cant get well. People that are healthy may be exposed to just as much mercury, but they are able to either keep it "locked up' internal so it is not currently affecting them, or their system is not too overloaded, and they are able to expell it.

Just because healthy individuals can process and expell this mercury does not reflect on compromised individuals, such as chronic lyme disease patients, whose bodies cannot do so, and for whom it is a big problem. It is not helpful to say an anecdotal story of someones relative who had an immune system healthy enough to process toxic metals out, and then imply that it should not be a problem then for anyone else !!

I am also trained in the sciences, and looking at the data of number of lyme infected ticks and number of people bitten by ticks, it must be that many people are exposed to the lyme disease bacteria. Most of them are not getting sick, or more to the point, get alittle sick, but their bodies fight it off on their own and they do not have chronic health problems like the rest of us posting here.

Us chronic lyme disease people are not able to fight it off like the majority of the population must be doing. Why does it make sense to you that we have more trouble fighting off this bacteria than most, but shouldn't be more affected by other immune system loads, like mercury and other heavy metals, than others ?

I totally agree with you that it's not just about Bb.

If I was a totally healthy individual with no stress, eating healthy food, breathing clean air, exercising regularly, no heavy metals, and in total balance with myself, it is unlikely that I would be here popping mercury questions.

But I not such an individual. I'm trying to become such, and in the mean time I'd like to hear the dental situation of those who have also had their heavy metals measured.

Anyone?

Our doctor who treats literally only chronically ill of every category (Lyme, cancer, MS, ALS, Parkinsons, CFS, etc. etc.)
and has done so for many years, readily confirms that a heavy metal toxic client has no chance of getting well, no matter what other underlying problems there are. Also, a patient with dental infections, often following mercury and other metal problems, has little chance to fight the invasion of bacteria, viruses, fungi, molds, parasites, etc. It just does not happen. Every patient that is chronically affected has to address these aspects.

Since we are well, and watching from the sidelines, I have never met a "cured" patient that did not have to do any of this work, such as treating heavy metals, chemicals, besides the infections. But I have met many that have gotten well or are well on the road to full recovery. It takes time - patience on the part of the patient as well as the doctor - and a lot of experience. Because every patient requires a different approach that will work. There is no one-size-fits-all.

Some of the least successful patients are the ones that hop from doctor to doctor - where a doctor never has a chance to really develop a feel for a patient, never developing a rapport and trust and just plain old having figured out how this individual patient handles things.

Take care.

Gigi has posted many approaches of doing this.

It's true that amalgams are still a controversial issue with many dentists and therefore, with insurance companies. But, then again, so is Lyme, isn't it.

Mercury is poison. We all know that. They won't even put it in thermometers any longer.

Some amalgams leak more than others, and are of course, just one of many sources of the toxin. But, there's a reason why our bodies went in *overload* with the lyme bacteria. As has been stated here many times before, many people have Lyme and don't show symptoms. Why did it overtake *us*? Was it the straw that broke the camel's back?

I personally want to remove as many things that I know are wrong with my body, including heavy metals, parasites, etc. to give my system a fighting chance against the Lyme bacteria.

quote:

---

Originally posted by JRWagner:
DocDave...

A voice with credentials! Thank you for injecting some sanity into this issue.

LISTEN TO THE DOCTOR...he is the ONLY one who can speak on this issue with any background in the field.

Peace, love and wellness,
JRW

---

I had my amalgams replaced a year ago--upon removal it was clear that I had ongoing decay under most of them, although this decay was not evident to visual inspection before the fillings were removed. I've been responding very well to the new LD/Co treatment I've been on for over a year. I've done a lot of metals and other detox over the past year (I've had a variety of exposures to mercury, outside of dental work).

How all the points connect, if they do connect, I am not qualified to say.

1) # of fillings and location (molar/front): 6, no front teeth, lower and upper jaw
2) Approximate relative size of each filling?2 large, 2 med, 2 small.
3) How long have you had the fillings? 35-20 y
4) What is your level of mercury poisining? Don't know, never came across a test I trusted.

1) # of fillings and location (molar/front)?
A - 2 on upper molars
2) Approximate relative size of each filling?
A- Medium
3) How long have you had the fillings?
A - about 20 years
4) What is your level of mercury poisining?
trace amounts only detected!!

Also, I happen to eat fish 2-3 times per week. I was told that people who live in industrial and urban areas are more likely than those in rural areas to have mercury poisoning due to the amt of pollution (coal in air). You can breathe in mercury. Have you contacted the EPA to find out about possible sources of mercury in the area in which you live.

Other than that, I am clueless about it.

I have much more "faith" in the issue about dental infections/decay as being the reason for some peoples improvement after replacing fillings.

But again, if the fillings were properly put in in the first place, I doubt that many people will have trouble with decay.

Of course, not all fillings are put properly in. There are lousy dentists out there just like there are lousy doctors, bus drivers, etc.